Retinal detachment is generally regarded as a negative ophthalmic event to be avoided. Nevertheless, retinal detachment has recently been used as a method with which to treat retinal damaged, such as macular degeneration. In macular degeneration, photoreceptor cells that allow detailed vision degenerate in one focal area of the macula. The formation of this macular damage to photoreceptors results in a loss of sight in the afflicted subject.
One procedure to treat this disease is to surgically induce a retinal detachment. In one form of this procedure, a nick is surgically introduced into the retina of a subject. Subsequently a small amount of fluid is then introduced between the retina and the retinal space. The introduction of this fluid causes the separation of the retina from the retinal pigment epithelium. Once the retina is separated from its support layer it is then manually moved into a new position of the retina where photoreceptor cells are healthy and allow detailed vision, and is then reattached. Unfortunately, there are a number of complications with this procedure.
One complication resulting from the surgical detachment of the retina is that retinal pigment epithelia cells (RPE cells) are released into the vitreous humor. The introduction of these cells into the vitreous humor can lead to retinal damage by causing proliferative retinopathy and subretinal fibrosis.
Another complication arises during the manipulation of the detached retinal tissue as it is moved into a desired position. The retinal tissue is extremely fragile and surgical manipulations often will result in unintended tears in the retina. These tears reduce any therapeutic advantages that might result from the translocated retinal tissue.
In view of these limitations, what is needed is a non-surgical method of inducing retinal detachment.